gut health

Improve Your Health with Dr. Mercola’s Complete Probiotics + Giveaway

October 7, 2015 By lyndsinreallife Leave a Comment

*Disclosure**: I received a bottle of probiotics, joint support, and silver from Mercola.com to provide an honest review and giveaway on my blog. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.*

Last year, I had an overgrowth of candida which resulted in some pretty uncomfortable symptoms. I began focusing on alternative medicine and holistic health care. My family has been using holistic methods and seeing an alternative medicine doctor for 12 years now. I’ve always been really interested it, and even considered attending graduate school for holistic health. However, my health began to deteriorate as I cycled through my worst episodes of bipolar disorder. The result? My gut (where 90% of our immune system is) was full of too much bacteria, causing a downhill spiral of physical and mental issues.

Image via brainyweightloss.com

It was only then that I learned about probiotics. To put it simply, probiotics (affilate) are good bacteria that we need in our GI tract. Probiotics are something we should be consuming often, if not every day (note: I am not a health professional. These are only my opinions.). They’re especially important when you have a candida overgrowth.

There are tons of companies that make probiotics, but not all of them are quality products. Luckily, there’s Dr. Mercola’s Complete Probiotics. Dr. Joseph Mercola is an osteopathic physician (also known as a DO). DOs are similar to MDs, however, DOs “practice a “whole person” approach, treating the entire person rather than just symptoms. Focusing on preventive health care, DOs help patients develop attitudes and lifestyles that don’t just fight illness, but help prevent it, too” (as found on his website). This type of whole body approach is why I trust in his products. Plus, a portion of the proceeds from his product sales are donated to various nonprofits!

Dr. Mercola’s Complete Probiotics:

contain effective, strain specific bacteria
are viable and dose specific
remain stable and viable for a long period of time
have the ability to survive the stomach and into the intestine
thrive in the intestine

Within about a week of taking these, I felt great! Want to try them out for yourself? Mercola.com and I are giving away one bottle of Complete Probiotics to one lucky reader! Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions:

Giveaway ends October 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM (midnight) PST. Open to Residents of the US & Canada only. Entrants must be 18 & over. Prizes cannot be shipped to P.O. Boxes. Winner will be selected by rafflecopter.com and be notified by email. The winner has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that The Balanced Brunette is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes.

I also had the opportunity to try Dr. Mercola’s Silver Solution (droplets) and (affiliate) Joint Support (gummies). I highly recommend them, as well!

There are SO many great products Dr. Mercola has to offer. I want to buy them all! I’ll definitely be getting my supplements (and Archie’s!) from Mercola.com.

Do you take probiotics? Had you heard of them before this post?
What is your favorite supplement?

Thank you so much for reading! If you like what you see, please subscribe here:
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Holistic Living Nutrition Personal

GAPS Diet Update – Week 3

May 11, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 10 Comments

A couple weeks ago, I posted about my new nutrition plan and why I was doing it. As a recap, I am following a plan called the GAPS diet, which basically means my digestive system is not a happy camper. The past four months have been very stressful, which led to an excess of cortisol being released (stress hormone), sugar and refined carb cravings, poor nutrition, and then an overgrowth of candida.

(Image Source)

Candida is a fungus/yeast that we all have a little bit of in our digestive systems. However, if it grows out of control, you get pretty scary symptoms. Since starting to detox from things like sugar, soy, dairy, gluten (grains), and refined carbs, these are the symptoms I have experienced:

hives (daily)
migraines (6 days in a row)
fatigue, no matter how healthy I eat
difficulty sleeping
abdominal/digestive pain/bloating
irritability, mood swings, depression
muscle pain, especially in my legs
weight gain
acne (I haven’t had acne in YEARS!!!!)
intense sugar and refined carb cravings

I could go on and on, but those are the ones that really stood out to me. It has been a rough 3 weeks! But I feel like I am finally getting over the hump of the worst part. I started a 21 day cleanse (through Herbalife), I’m taking a supplement called FloraFiber daily (probiotics), and I just ordered goldenseal root (to push the candida out) and another probiotic. I already feel so much better!! I definitely have a ways to go with getting healthy again, but I can already feel a difference, and it is soo comforting!

(Image Source)

Sugar addiction and sugar detoxing are no joke. I was blaming myself for having a hard time cutting it out completely, but I was reassured that it really is my body that craves the sugar! It’s so similar to a drug addiction, it’s crazy. Did you know sugar is 8 times more addicting than cocaine? There was a study done on rats, and the rats chose the sugar over the cocaine every time.

Anyway, I feel like I’m rambling. I wanted to share a little bit of an update about this sugar detox since I know a few of you are following my updates (which I so so appreciate!!). If anything, I have totally learned how essential it is to truly take care of our bodies. Yes, I knew it was important before, but I feel like now, I have a deeper understanding of why we need to nourish our bodies with real food and get those toxins out through exercise. So many of us are living with poor gut health, and we don’t even realize it! I can’t stress enough how important it is to take care of our digestive system. 90% of our immune system is in our gut.

Healthy gut = happy life. 🙂

Bipolar Disorder Nutrition Personal

My Current Nutrition Plan, & Why It Has Nothing To Do With Anyone But Myself

April 26, 2014 By lyndsinreallife 16 Comments

There are two main reasons for this post.

To hold me accountable and to document my progress with my new nutrition plan
To clear up any confusion as to WHY I am doing this nutrition plan

Let’s start with what the plan is. It’s called the GAPS diet. GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome and was developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. Basically, my digestive system is in poor health. When I am stressed, I eat a lot of sugar and refined carbs. Read my previous post about my sugar addiction for a little bit of a background. In addition to this, I have bipolar disorder. I don’t want to take medication for the rest of my life, and I am very aware that good nutrition and regular fitness are very important for both physical and mental health. I decided to take a mental health coaching program from a holistic wellness coach who has bipolar disorder, and has successfully managed her bipolar without medication for one year.

I started the program with her almost two weeks ago, and officially started the GAPS diet this past Wednesday. My coach, Nellie, recommended this nutrition plan for me because I need to get my digestion under control. Every symptom I’ve been having is directly related to an unhealthy gut. I have candida, which is a fungus that overgrows when we consume too much sugar and refined carbs. I have almost every single symptom of it (and now it all makes sense!):

chronic fatigue
digestive issues
difficulty concentrating/foggy brain
irritability, mood swings, depression, anxiety
seasonal allergies and itchy ears (I’ve never had itchy ears before- so weird)
strong sugar and refined carb cravings (oh my gosh, it’s awful)
skin rashes — I have had hives 3 times in the past 4 weeks. A couple nights ago, I woke up at 4:30 am with severe hives on both my arms. Here’s a picture (it was not pleasant and rather scary, actually):

It’s not only physical, but also mental. The GAPS diet is used for people with various mental health conditions, like depression, ADHD, schizophrenia, and so on. Having bipolar disorder, the GAPS diet is perfect. I told Nellie that I would be completely open and be the client (I’m used to being the health coach), and try out what she recommended for me. It has worked for her (and countless others), and I am really excited to see how it helps my mental stability! And of course the healthy body and weight loss will be great. 🙂

It really is a different feeling when you’re eating for health as opposed to eating for weight loss. It’s so much easier. Don’t get me wrong though, it is by no means EASY. It’s been four days and I am struggling. Sugar addiction is no joke. I crave it and I get really moody when I don’t have it. But I am finding alternatives, and today has been a really great nutrition day! So I feel optimistic about it.

While on the GAPS diet (however long I decide to be on it- at least five weeks), I cannot have grains/gluten, dairy, sugar, anything processed, and soy.

This leads me to the second point of this post.

I have been a health coach with Herbalife for exactly one and a half years in May. Herbalife has completely changed my life, and I am forever grateful for the company, the products, and the people who have helped me lose weight and go after my dreams! However, Herbalife meal replacement shakes contain soy. It was never a problem for me (like I said, it helped me to lose weight and feel amazing!), but I told Nellie I would be completely open, so that means stopping Herbalife for the five weeks or so that I am her client. I was hesitant about it at first, but not only am I paying my coach for the mental health coaching, I am committed to finding ways to treat my bipolar disorder holistically. Why would I do this program, and spend the entire however many weeks/months not doing what my coach asked me to do? As a coach, I know how frustrating that is! Having clients who you spend time on and give your all to, but they just won’t do what you ask them to do. I would be a hypocrite. It’s like what Seth Godin (my favorite blogger) said,

“If you don’t have the time to do it right the first time, then you don’t have the time to do it over.”

Because I am doing a nutrition plan that does not allow soy (which therefore does not allow Herbalife meal replacement shakes, except allergen-free, which is totally fine), I do not feel authentic when talking about it at this time. I get that some people will not understand this. That since I have been with Herbalife (and I am successful with it), I should only promote Herbalife, no matter what. And okay, I do get that for some people. But it doesn’t feel right in my heart promoting something that I am not currently doing. It is not authentic. It denies me integrity.

I will eventually introduce certain foods back into my diet, like my Herbalife shakes (trust me, I miss them!). I still love the products, I can still share about my experiences with them, and I still love the company. My current nutrition has nothing to do with Herbalife as a company or even a product. My current nutrition/situation has nothing to do with anyone or anything BUT ME.

I am still coaching clients. I am still building a team in Ohio. I feel good about the decision I’ve made, and I don’t have to explain myself to anyone. I just figured I’d clear a few things up. 🙂

I will be posting updates about my mental health coaching and GAPS diet weekly!

Disclosure: I received a bottle of probiotics, joint support, and silver from Mercola.com to provide an honest review and giveaway on my blog. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.